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Nigeria Inflation March 2016

Nigeria: Inflation shoots up in March to an over-three-and-a-half-year high

April 12, 2016

In March, consumer prices increased 2.2% over the previous month, which was a notch below February’s 2.3% increase. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the month-on-month increase mainly reflected higher prices for imported food, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels as well as for food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Inflation in March jumped from February’s 11.4% to 12.8%. The print represented the highest rate since July 2012 and overshot the 11.8% that market analysts had expected. As a result, annual average inflation ticked up from February’s 9.4% to 9.8% in March, thereby reaching a nearly three-year high.

Core consumer prices, which exclude farm produce and energy prices, rose 1.6% in March over the previous month, which matched the result tallied in February. Core inflation jumped from 9.5% in February to 10.3% in March.

The National Bureau of Statistics expects inflation to end the year at 10.2% and at 9.5% in 2017. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect inflation to average 9.8% in 2016, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2017, panelists forecast an inflation rate of 9.0%.